Dimensions of Temperament in Infant School Children

SUMMARY A Principal Component Analysis of 39 temperamental attributes on a random sample of 209 infant school children produced four meaningful components. These identified components make an important contribution to an understanding of temperamental organization. A brief questionnaire using the above data has been developed for measuring temperament in infant school children. There are 30 questions with appropriate probes which relate to four components (dimensions): (a) Withdrawal, poor adaptation, dependence, etc.; (b) High activity, intensity, distractibility, etc.; (c) Moodiness, sulkiness; (d) Irregularity. Tentative norms arc provided for the above dimensions.